The Mayor of Danvers

Dr. Seuss, down on the farm...heh, heh, heh

The Mayor of Danvers

Welcome to the place, that drains lost souls

Where curing the sickness is our main goal

Behind these whitewashed and mortared walls

Sanitized screams echo through these great halls

But nothing’s sanitized about these odors

Come inside; I’m your host; I’ll give you the tour

This is the commons, where we spend our days

The residents listen to music, garden and play

There’s the marvelous, artistic Mrs. Philbin,

finger painting the walls with her feces again

Over there in the wheelchair is crazy Bill

Don’t mind him; he’s harmless, after his pills

He wheels around asking the nurses for dates

As he sits in his chair and just masturbates

Cover your ears, for Sarah’s shrill screams

will burst your eardrums and haunt your dreams

They strap on her jacket to take out some fight

and take her for treatment - watch your hand, she bites

That line over there?  That’s where we get our meds

Now let me show you where we keep the beds

This way now, stay close; you’ll get lost if you stray

I think there are lunatics down that way

Unacceptable is their social behavior

They are bad, bad, bad; they could be a danger

Take a peek, if you like, though watch where you’re steppin’

Oh, you will get used to the smell of urine

If you follow me now, I’ll take you to see

where we perform pre-frontal lobotomy

We have to be quiet as we descend down there

We don’t want to get caught, we shouldn’t be here

I suspect your interests, I think you’ll agree

is seeing some patients get shock therapy

When I come down here, I always am wary

It gives me the creeps; this place is scary

Here’s the mortuary, last stop for some flakes

And the crematory where we hide the mistakes

These people don’t matter, alone and defeated

They’re used to the way they’re abused and mistreated

We’ll end our tour here, where I’ll leave you alone

It’s our mass graveyard where we bury their bones

I’ll leave you with some concluding remarks

While you’re still thinking we’ll let you depart

We’ve been open for business since ‘74

1874 that is, shall I tell you some more?

There’s much history on these grounds where we stand

For once they hung witches not far from this land

I’ll pause for some questions before I must go

Is there anything more that you’d like to know?

What?  Why am I here is what you dare ask?

Never mind that; I’ll take you to task

The real question is why are you here?

This place has been closed the last 25 years

Author's Note

The Danvers State Lunatic Hospital & Insane Asylum was constructed in 1874 and was closed by the State of Massachusetts in 1992. It was built on property which was originally the home of John Hawthorne, the Salem Witch Trials judge. It housed psychiatric patients, substance abuse patients, the mentally retarded and the criminally insane from 1878 until 1989. Known for the science of straightjacket restraint, the practice of shock therapy and as the birthplace of the lobotomy, what started as a residential hospital with a philosophy of humane treatment for psychiatric patients, evolved into a house of horrors. Crumbling and in disrepair, the abandoned buildings were under protected status by the National Register of Historic Places for 13 years, until purchased and demolished by the Avalon Bay Development Company in 2005. Danvers State Asylum has been featured in several horror movies and stories and has been the subject of several paranormal investigations.

Reviews

[Tina Kline]

The real horror here is that this is true and happened in many places. I think you did an outstanding job on this poem, especially the ending. Time to turn and run if you can but I'm afraid it's too late.Some cn never escape these unending nightmares.
Impressive and creative.

[Damien Thibodeaux]

Thanks Tina. I'm glad you liked it. It was fun to write. I do have a place in my heart for those suffering from mental illness and the horrible abuses they went through in these institutions. At the same time they scare me too. As do the old buildings their spirits still haunt.

[Rita L. Sev]

Wow - what a vivid, and sadly true, story you tell here Damien. As I read your poem, I was reminded of a facility here in Philadelphia, Byberry State Hospital. It has an eerily similar history to Danvers. Operational from 1907 until around 1990, then abandoned until 2006, then finally demolished. Your piece tells the reality of many such places...

[Damien Thibodeaux]

Sad how these human beings were abused.

I am aware of Byberry State, an equally scary psycho hospital. It's extremely disappointing they tore these historic buildings down. They always want to tear down history. Pretty soon they'll be no scary places left like that to explore.

[Rita L. Sev]

On the other hand, there are still a lot of cool historic sites here, many ghostly. My husband works for Independence Park, and the staff often gets permission to party at places like Old Swede's Church graveyard (the church opened in 1700). Now THAT is a cool way to spend an evening... ;)

[Damien Thibodeaux]

Absolutely cool to get to do that! Your husband must have the coolest job in the world to get to be around all that history all the time. You guys have so many more well preserved historic places in the northeastern part of the country than we have in the south. What the yankees didn't burn was paved over a long time ago. Of course we never had the early US history stuff down here anyway.

[Marie]

THis is sort of fantastic. It's creepy and made me shudder. But a very good poem.

[Damien Thibodeaux]

Thank you so much Marie. I appreciate you reading and reviewing :-) I'm glad you liked it.